


The eternal bond of soul-mates

by Nefelibata (Khaleeki)



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Batfamily Feels, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, One-Shot, Wedding Fluff, prompt: 5 weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 02:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13090950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaleeki/pseuds/Nefelibata
Summary: Tim attends five weddings.





	The eternal bond of soul-mates

**One. Bruce & Selina **

Tim can admit that Bruce and Selina’s wedding is something of a wake-up call for him. Or, if not a wake up, exactly, at least a good reason to reassess his life. A happy occasion with an edge of panic, because his adoptive father is getting married, who is known for hiding his feelings in a tight little box until they explode. He never thought he would let himself love someone and now he is at the altar. He would actually say that he is proud.

"I don't want to say 'until death do us part,' if I had a thousand lifetimes I'd want them all to be with you."

When Bruce said those words it made him think about his own love life. (He honestly never knew Bruce could be that romantic but isn’t that what soul-mates should share? Love that lives on past these mortal bones?) He hasn’t had a serious relationship since he and Steph broke up. It doesn’t bother him, most of the time, but it’s impossible to avoid the thoughts in circumstances like this. He remembers when Bruce was all broody and moody and now he’s in a serious enough relationship that he’s marrying someone. Tim still feels like he’s too irresponsible to own a dog, let alone commit himself for the rest of his life to another human being.

At least Dick is, one, older than he is and, two, currently trying to hide behind him. So he’s not the least competent person in the room.

“I can’t believe she came,” he says, not actually glaring at Kori, but spiritually glaring at her. Glaring at her as much as he can without actually looking at her.

“Yeah, fuck her, coming to a wedding she was invited to.”

“It’s my dad’s wedding. She knew I was going to be here.”

“She’s friends with Selina; I assume she wanted her here. And you know she and Bruce still secretly wants you guys to get back together.”

Their relationship has always been confusing. Dick still isn’t over her, and judging from the careful, furtive way Kori is scanning the reception hall, Tim is pretty sure she’s not over him either.

“That’s not even true. Bruce doesn’t give a shit.”

“Honestly, who has time to keep up with all the girls you hook up with.”

“Shut up. You think we can go to the drinks table?”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to stop you. You can’t avoid her forever though,” he adds.

“I don’t have to avoid her forever, I just have to avoid her tonight.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” says Tim. “Whatever. I’m going to get a drink. And if I see your ex-girlfriend, I’m going to say hi and tell her where you are. Because this is ridiculous.”

“You’re a traitor.”

“You’re afraid if you talk to Kori you’re going to sleep with her.”

Dick opens and closes his mouth, and then says, “I’m afraid if I talk to her, she’s not going to want to sleep with me. Or just want to sleep with me. Fuck, she’ll be back here soon. What if she comes back and she doesn’t–”

It’s a logical concern, for certain values of logical. If Dick never talks to her, she can’t tell him she’s not interested. But if she thinks he doesn’t want to see her, that’s not actually going to help.

“Only one way to find out,” he says, and Dick snorts.

“Yeah. That really helps.”

Kori spots him and lights up, which is all the evidence Tim needs. He claps Dick on the shoulder. “You’ll be fine. I need booze.”

He doesn’t let himself look back, so when someone comes up next to him at the bar and says, “So, are you Tim?” he’s completely unprepared and nearly spills his drink on himself.

The guy is hot, with short, straight black hair and a slightly nervous smile, apparently a little too comfortable in formal wear. He stands tall and proud with glinting blue eyes, he seems confident.

Then the actual statement catches up and he blinks. “Uh, yeah. I’m Tim.”

“Awesome, I’m Conner, Kori’s plus one. She told me you were Dick’s brother and I was going to try to distract you for her, but she’s talking to now already.”

Tim lets himself glance over, finds Dick easily, his smile warm and soft, the expression he only ever wears for her.

“That’s him, yeah.”

“I knew that was him, it’s hard not to recognize him.” Conner drains his drink and offers Tim a smile, somewhere between nervous and flirty but more flirty than nervous. “Can I distract you anyway?”

Tim smiles back. Maybe the best way to deal with his low key wedding crisis isn’t a one-night stand, but there are definitely worse ways to deal. “You already are. But you should keep doing it.”

 

**two. Dinah & Oliver **

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Tim was coming!”

Koriand’r frowns. “Honestly, I thought you knew. Aren’t you guys still together?”

“We’re not together,” says Conner, trying not to sound too petulant. “We’re just–fucking. Sometimes. When he texts me. Gah,” he adds, rubbing his face. “How did this happen? I try to be cool and hook up and I just–suck at it.”

“Sounds like you’re pretty good at it,” she teases. “Since you’re still hooking up with him.”

“Shut up.”

Apparently he’s convincingly petulant, because she sobers. “I thought you’d know, but even if you didn’t, I thought you’d be, well–happy. You guys seem great together. We can all hang out, it’ll be fun.”

Conner’s glad she and her Dick worked everything out, and he does like Dick. But even with the two of them around, it’s hard to believe that this wedding is going to be improved with the inclusion of the guy he’s currently having occasional casual sex with. Who is Dick’s brother, and he doesn’t even know.

But he doesn’t want to keep having that conversation, so he switches tactics. “Okay, but why are they coming to this? How do we all know the same people?”

“Dick’s my plus one,” she says. “But he knows Dinah and Oliver, they’re friends with his father. We’re all connected somehow. You know most of the people as well.”

“I didn’t want to know them all, together, at a wedding.”

“Yeah, okay,” she grants. “But it’s not all bad, right? There’s still an open bar.”

Conner has to grin. “There is still an open bar.”

And, okay, Kori’s right, it’s not terrible. Dinah and Oliver are cute; you can see they’re in love from miles away. They look at each other like they are the only ones in the room, their sweetest smiles are only reserved for each other, their softest touches are when they dance together. He envies that open and pure form of love.

Everyone’s also having a good time, dancing and singing and it reminds him why weddings are fun. Also, Tim looks really hot in formal wear. And Conner does like Tim. That’s part of why he wishes they weren’t just having casual sex. He thinks he could be a great boyfriend. He thinks they could look at each other like that, like they are the only ones in the room. He could get lost in his eyes.

But in the meantime, they dance, their bodies close together moving to the rhythm of the music. Feeling Tim's skin on his makes him think dirty thoughts,, of how he wants to run his tongue along his jaw and make him moan and make him sweat.

And they make out, his lips taste so sweet, he could kiss him all day. He thinks about kissing Tim so hard, he would see stars behind his eyelids and he thinks about loving him so much he would see galaxies.

And they go home together and Conner can finally do everything he had wanted to do. And when Tim rolls over and tells Conner he might as well stay the night, it’s not perfect, but he’ll take it for now.

 

**three. Cassie Sandsmark & Kara Zor-El **

“So, what am I doing, exactly? What’s my angle?”

Tim glances at Conner in the passenger seat, can’t help a smile. He looks so fucking focused. He’s dedicated to this. “Angle?”

“As your date, what am I doing? Do you want your ex to be, like, jealous? Wishing she hadn’t let you get away? Or do you just want to show off how much you’ve moved on?”

This is the problem with not just being upfront about what he wants. Tim could have just asked Conner to the wedding, as a normal date, because he wanted his company. Which he does. But it felt so–weighty. So he chickened out, added the rambling “it’s my ex’s wedding and I don’t want to be alone and pathetic and she knows all my friends so I can’t bring them” explanation to the end of the invitation, making it sound less like he wanted to go with Conner and more like he wanted a warm body.

He’s bad at this. It’s not a new thing.

“You don’t have to do anything special,” he says. “Just be yourself.”

“Is this the last girl you dated?”

“No, Stephanie was the last one but it’s been a while.” He does the math quickly. “Cassie and I already been broken up for like three years when I met you. She and Kara have been together for almost that long.”

“So she’s marrying her rebound girl and you didn’t even have one,” Conner surmises. “Is this, like—did you want the wedding invitation, or is he rubbing it in your face? Do you still like her?”

Tim chuckles a little. “I mean, I dated her. Of course I liked her but I don’t know I guess it’s… it’s just awkward but I’m happy for her.”

“Yeah, but unofficially.”

“Unofficially, it’s a little weird. But the breakup was amicable. I wanted to bring you,” he adds, finally. “I like hanging out with you. I thought I’d have more fun if you were here.”

“Oh,” says Conner, surprised but apparently pleased. “So you really do just want me to be myself?”

“If I wanted to come with anyone else, I would have asked them. I’m, uh—I’m not good at this,” he admits, as he parks the car.

Conner thinks it over for a second. “So, is this a date?”

“I hope so.”

“Cool, I hope so too.” He leans over and kisses Tim, soft and quick, and most of the tension in Tim’s chest uncoils itself. “I’m still going to be an awesome date, don’t worry.”

“Obviously,” he says.

It was an autumn wedding in the late afternoon. The area faced the breathtaking sunset. At the end of each seated aisle, jasmine scented candles hung from naked tree branches. Spread down the aisle was white leaves- it was beautiful. He must admit, Cassie looked stunning and so did Kara, he was genuinly happy for her and then he realized he had found happiness as well. He looked over at Conner, his face was lit by the afternoon sun and he thought he had never seen someone look so breathtaking before. He was glad he brought him and when they asked him, he introduced him as his boyfriend.

His smile was enough to make all the butterflies in his stomach somersault.

Best wedding ever.

 

**four. Kori & Dick **

Tim will not openly admit that he has actually been excited about every single one of weddings he’s gone to recently. Bruce and Selina was great, not to mention that was when he met Conner. And Dinah and Oliver’s wedding was fun, he enjoyed himself more than he'd like to admit. Cassie’s was nice, but it was complicated by being his (admittedly distant) ex and the way he didn’t really know Kara at all. He was happy for them, but in a kind of intellectual way.

Kori and Dick’s wedding is nothing but awesome, though. His brother is getting married, his boyfriend is the best man, and he has absolutely no responsibilities in the wedding party, so he doesn’t have to worry about anything except having a good time.

And, okay, providing backup as needed. He’s still running around doing whatever needs doing, but he’ll get to just watch the ceremony, and then they’ll all be getting drunk and dancing and celebrating.

That’s what weddings are supposed to be: the purest form of joy, directed at people you love.

It was a very sweet day and for an August wedding it couldn't have been a brighter day. A large, beautiful tent and flooring had been erected on the lawn where the reception was to be held. Flowers adorned the place making it look like a fairy tale. It helped that the whole thing was fairly low-key, which is completely weird for Dick. A quick introduction, a few readings, the vows, and then a kiss. It’s over in about fifteen minutes, all told, and then there are pictures and mingling and a reception. The whole room buzzes with happiness, it makes him smile- looking at his family.

Conner comes to find him when the pictures are done, leaning down for a kiss. “You didn’t want to be in pictures, huh?”

“I saw Alfred with his camera, I think I’m going to be in pictures whether I like it or not. But, yeah, I can skip official posed stuff. You know what my face does when I try to smile on purpose.”

He laughs. “I do. We still would have liked to have you.”

“I know. It was a personal choice, not sacrificing myself for the greater good. That’s not really my thing. More Dick and Jason.”

“Yeah, that sounds right.” He takes Tim’s flute of champagne and takes a sip. “Barbara asked if we were next.”

Tim paused for a second. “That’s always such a weird question to me. Like, next by what measurement? What exactly are we taking into consideration here? If it was my family, Jason would next by default, since Bruce and Dick are married- unless someone else gets divorced. No one else can be next. But other people are going to get married before we do, like, in the world.”

“You’ve put way too much thought into this,” Conner says chuckling fondly.

“Story of my life. I think about things.” He wets his lips, finds himself unaccountably nervous. Conner brought it up, and he’s not nervous. This is okay. “Do you want us to be next?”

“I don’t know about next. I’m not in a hurry. But I want us to be someday.”  
His smile feels like a warm thing growing on his face, something a little foreign, but still welcome. “Yeah,” he says. “Someday is what I want too.”

 

**five. Tim & Conner **

Someday is about five years after the first time they met, when the wedding does happen. Not exactly five years, because having the same anniversary as Bruce and Selina would be awkward. But five years, give or take.

By the time it’s happening, Tim gets it. He’s grown up, he’s in love, and he’s more than ready.

By the time it’s happening, he can’t wait, actually.

It’s so easy, when he’s sure.

Marriage isn't a ring worn or a paper signed. It is not something endured but savoured. It is the union of two hearts beating as one, each that would sacrifice for the other's happiness and wellbeing. Marriage is something so beautiful that in that natural world it would be an opening rose, always with radiant petals left to unfurl to a warm sun. Perhaps that is why we give roses to those we love and often have them at our sacred unions. Marriage is the blessing we give to one another, an eternal bond of soul-mates.


End file.
